Eating according to the biological clock’s rhythm can positively influence the prevention of metabolic diseases such as diabetes. What should we know about this? We will talk more about the subject in this article.
Have you ever heard that eating dinner earlier can help prevent diabetes and lose weight? Although some believe that dinner is the main enemy in losing those extra pounds, the truth is that often the problem is not what we eat but the quantity and time we eat it.
As part of a healthy diet, nutritionists recommend eating the four main meals of the day. They also suggest having an early dinner and not sleeping immediately after eating is advisable.
Eating According To Your Biological Clock
Now, besides eating patterns, what does meal timing have to do with it? What does science say about the subject?
Scientists have long known that the human body operates according to a biological clock that regulates sleep and wake cycles based on the hours of the day. It has been determined that there is not just one, but a series of them in the different organs.
Based on this discovery, it was recognized that metabolism follows a rhythm so that the enzymatic and digestive systems are ready to receive food at certain times. Therefore, the ideal would be to base eating and sleeping patterns on this rhythm.
So, this is the premise that determines that eating earlier can help prevent diabetes and maintain an ideal weight, in addition to preventing obesity.
Eating Dinner Earlier May Help Prevent Diabetes And Obesity
Some studies suggest that people who eat dinner immediately before going to bed have a greater chance of developing metabolic syndrome, that is, pathologies like those mentioned in the previous section.
In research published in the journal Nutrients, the effect caused by a diet of three main meals and snacks was compared in two populations of young adults. These meals were administered during the day in the first group and at Night in the second.
In it, it was found that despite having eaten identically, those who ate exclusively at night developed indicators of insulin resistance, that is, a greater risk of developing diabetes.
Furthermore, studies carried out with a group of students found similar results. Half of the participants were exposed to a daytime lifestyle, including eating at daytime hours and dinner as early as possible. In contrast, there was a similar group, but with nocturnal rhythms.
Those who formed the first sample had glucose levels within normal parameters and those of the hormones leptin and insulin responsible for the metabolism of lipids and carbohydrates. In this sense, these young people had a greater capacity to burn fat and a lower risk of developing diabetes.
So, this is what nutrition professionals mean when they advise us to eat dinner early. Whenever possible, this meal should be eaten at least two hours before going to sleep.
In Addition To Having An Early Dinner, It Is Advisable To Have Breakfast
It’s not that the body can’t digest nutrients at Night, but the biological clock works in a certain way. Part of this also involves eating at regular times and not skipping meals.
About this issue, the study Food for the Night as an obesity-inducing factor carried out on rats observed that the first meal they ate reset their daily rhythms and kept them in tune with the signals of the biological clock.
On the contrary, those who did not receive this first food started their metabolic cycles with a delay compared to the other group. Furthermore, they lost internal synchrony, altering the early evening signals.
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